County pension board follies: the encore

Three years ago, the board of the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association selected a Texas pension executive named Lee Partridge as its top investment strategist, agreeing to pay him a minimum of $882,000 for his first year on the job even though ads for the post said the top pay would be $209,000. The circumstances that led to this peculiar pay escalation were never adequately explained.

Now it’s déjà vu time: This week, a closely divided pension board voted to retain Partridge and his Houston-based investment company, Salient Partners, with a five-year contract that pays 0.08 percent of total pension holdings per year. Those holdings are now just above $9 billion, meaning Salient will get $7.2 million next year even if there is a 0 percent return on investment.

This is nearly quadruple what Salient would get under its expiring contract. Once again, the board majority hasn’t offered a thorough, persuasive case for the decision and the huge pay hike.

When people say consistency is a positive quality, this is not what they have in mind.